Journalists & media staff killed list in 2018

Brazil

17 January 2018

The journalist working for radio Beira Rio FM, a local station in the state of Goiás, was shot dead at his home by two gunmen on motorbikes who forced their way into his house and killed him. According to reports quoting police and colleagues, Lopez had received multiple threats for denouncing the local administration on his radio programme.
The radio station was also attacked last November and set on fire but the attackers have not been identified.

Guatemala

01 February 2018

The lifeless bodies of the two media professionals were found in the municipality of Mazatenango with torture signs and their hands and feet tied after they went missing on 28 January. According to media reports, Castillo Cifuentes who was the correspondent for Medio Nuestro Diario newspaper based in the department of Quetzaltenango left home to cover the Mazatenango carnival. Luis Alfredo de Léon Miranda, who worked at Radio Coaltepec in the same location, went with Castillo to the same event.
Local sources close to Castillo’s family reportedly told media that the journalist had been receiving blackmailing calls.

Iraq

14 January 2018

The photojournalist for Al-Shabab news agency who also contributed to Souq Al-Shuyoukh website was killed in a car explosion in the Matibijah area. According to the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate (OJS), an IFJ affiliate, Al-Mashrafawi was injured while covering fighting between the Iraqi security forces and militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS)in an area between the governorates of Salahiddin and Diyala. He was severely injured and admitted at the Al-Nasiriya hospital where died of his wounds.

Mexico

13 January 2018

The independent journalist and political columnist for El Diario de Nuevo Laredo since 2016 was shot dead in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state. The city is considered one of the most dangerous places in Mexico, reports said. In his last column, Dominquez had denounced the impunity for crime over the last 18 years in Mexico during which those behind the killings had never been identified.
According to the Sindicato Nacional de Redactores de la Prensa (SNRP), an IFJ affiliate, Dominquez was the first killed journalist to be killed since the start of 2018.

Pakistan

01 March 2018

The 40-year-old sub-editor with Islamabad-based Urdu daily Qaumi Pukaar was shot dead by unkown assailants on Bank Road, the high-security area near the Pakistan Army’s national headquarters while he was returning home after work late in the evening. The motorcycle-borne gunmen intercepted Raja’s motorcycle before firing six bullets, killing him on the spot.

Slovak Republic

25 February 2018

The body of the 27-year-old Slovakian reporter working for “Aktuality.sk” news portal was found on 25 February alongside that of his partner Martina Kusnirova at their home in Velka Maca, some 65 kilometres from the capital Bratislava. Slovakian police launched a murder probe on Monday 26 February 2018 and the police commissioner Tibor Gaspard told reporters that the murder was " most likely related to the investigative work of the journalists."
Kuciak’s reporting focused mainly on allegations of tax evasion and fraud involving high-ranking officials and tycoons. Police commander Tibor Gaspar said this morning that the murder was “most likely related to the investigative work of the journalist”. ...